MAMEWAH most wanted...

[Minwah]

I am thinking of working on a relatively small MW update...I'm still pretty busy with my cab and other stuff so I won't be doing anything too major

Stuff so far:

Previous emulator and games list shortcut keys,
Increase max no. emulators (50?),
Improve IPAC .IPC support,
Joystick support *maybe*.

Please voice any requests

[stuzza]

This one is a must:

Previous emulator and games list shortcut keys,

Anything else is a bonus, imo  

[SpamMe]

This one is a must:

Previous emulator and games list shortcut keys,

Anything else is a bonus, imo  

Definitely my #1 as well.

I'd like to see the ability to have either a seperate background image for fav/gametype lists or (preferably) a emu?_list?-logo. layout filetype that would work like the current emu?-logo. file.

[arcadecab]

Such a MAMEwah update would be great!!  They all sound good--but I would most like to see the upgrade to 50 possible emulators and the Joystick support!!--the shortcut keys is also a nice feature.  Looking forward to seeing this update soon.  Thanks again for the great work with MAMEwah.
BTW, for probably the next major update, my requests are 1) motion video support using 3darcade's attract mode videos downloads  2) A return of the movie screensaver option.
Thanks.

[SaiNRuB]

Joystick support would be fantastic, that and creating and supporting a official vertical layout.

[MadEditor]

great...

Mouse and/or spinner to cycle games...

anyway the new release would be great...

[Brad Lee]

a Previous button for cycling emulators & gamelists definitely

What about tying the [esc] key from the main screen to the option that is picked? ie if you exitthru the menu you can choose to exit/exit+logoff/exit+shutdown, but if you hit esc it just dumps you out

Mouse/Spinner selection for games would be cool, as long as it's either optioned(x axis, y axis, mousewheel) or on the most common(x axis)

[screaming]

Please voice any requests

  I expect this thread to grow to at least 3 pages by the end of the day.  That was a dangerous request there, Minwah

/s

[Minwah]

Great so far...

arcadecab: I know you've not forgot about the video thing!  Not this time, but I will try to have a look at it for one of the subsequent releases...

SaiNRuB: The vertical support is still considered pretty major, so don't expect that in this release.

Various: Mouse support I will need also, so I will have another play around and might include if I am happy enough with it

Brad Lee: Good point, I'd forgot it even worked like that.  The 'Default Exit Button Action' option should make it to this release.

screaming: Hehe, I never promised anything tho

Seriously tho this is already helping me to get an idea of the more important features...many of which I am beginning to need myself, which is always good for my motivation  I'll keep an eye on the thread until it dies down and then put together final list of what-to-expect...

[DaveJ-UK]

I thought music shuffle each time you load MAMEWAH would be a good idea. And a previous track button would be useful.

I also thought the game list navigation could be improved slightly. atm the 4 functions:back/forward 1, 20, 100, 500. This could be changed to something like 1, 20, 1 letter, 2 letters. So if you're at the first game starting with D you press right on joystick 2 and it jumps to E. Would simplify navigating large lists but might not be so great for smaller lists. Just a thought.

[screaming]

I also thought the game list navigation could be improved slightly. atm the 4

  Come to think of it, I do find myself wishing I didn't have to hold the joystick so long to go from one end of the list to the other.  Next Letter and Previous Letter keys don't seem like they would too time consuming to implement.  

  Either that or having special keys that would work similar to Page Up and Page Down, only be able to go up or down a configurable number (50? 100?) .

What do you think?

/steve

[Minwah]

DaveJ-UK: What do you mean by music shuffle?  It does randomise what is played each time.  Previous track sounds like a good idea.

+screaming: Maybe if I add some options so that the 100/500 games thing can be adjusted to any figure you like, and add some other shortcuts to move a letter up/down.

[DaveJ-UK]

Minwah: I hadn't noticed it randomised each time it loaded. I've only got about 40 tracks but it did seem to always play certain tracks after others. Previous track button would be great.

Would be cool to have the track title and artist from the IDE tag displayed somewhere in the GUI, but hardly essential.

Skipping forward 500 games at a time is good until you get close to the one your after, then you have to think a bit. If you can skip forward 1 or 2 letters as well and you wanted to get to say Pacman, you know you have to skip 14 or 15 letters down, then it will be a few below. If you skip forward 500, then 100, then 25 you have to think more.

Keep up the good work mamewah rocks  

[Minwah]

Skipping forward 500 games at a time is good until you get close to the one your after, then you have to think a bit. If you can skip forward 1 or 2 letters as well and you wanted to get to say Pacman, you know you have to skip 14 or 15 letters down, then it will be a few below. If you skip forward 500, then 100, then 25 you have to think more.

I know what you mean having been using my cab for the first week

[Trenchbroom]

My only dislike about Mamewah--having the refresh games list so dangerously easy to hit.  I don't know how many times I've deleted tons of mahjong and other crap from a favorites list just to accidentally hit the refresh games list and POOF!  All the work is gone.  

You need to make a warning screen to prevent idiots like myself from being the idiots that we are.  Or at the very least move the refresh option down to the very bottom so it's harder to be an idiot.

[MrBond]

I justed started checking out Mamewah- and I think it's great!  Thanks for creating it!  It was VERY easy to setup, and I had no idea how to do it before trying- so cheers in making "user friendly".  I had MAME, NES, SNES, and Visual Pinball all setup in no time!  I'm having some issues with my sega emulator though- GensFE.  

Great ideas, I really like the trackball controlling the list idea -as in say gamelauncher or 3darcade- it's fun to slap the thing and have your games scroll by!  

The 'previous/next' emu/list and 'previous/next letter' ideas are also great.  I wouldn't mind the video preview implementation either!    

Seriously though, great job Minwah.

[hulkster]

okay heres my idea....

once you open mamewah, a video starts with 2 midgets doing cartwheels across the screen, which in turn starts the transformation of your regular old cab into a fully functional keg/arcade/home theater/women with huge boobs!!!  do you have to know C++ for that or can you just do that with HTML??  

no seriously, the only thing i can recommend is putting in some kind of filter to enable people to put their games into categories.  i mean like, having a category for 2 player games, 4 player simeltaneous, etc.  

[Magnet_Eye]

The ability to mix emulators! i.e. DAPHNE games in the same gamelist as MAME!

PLEASE!

Also, the choosing emulators thing....I wish when I design a layout there was an object to place that was an Emulator List, and whan this is added to the layout, you have a spot where you can change emulators right there..how you move from the game list to the emulator list , i dunno. maybe a key that "tabs" you back and forth?

PS- Much thanks for the FE, and I owe you an ice cold beer or two, or three...  

[Aceldamor]

Not sure, but can you have Mamewah change gamelists via a button?

Example: I would like to have a "launch pad" on my arcade and want to have gamelists for emulators populate by hitting a button...can you do that?

If not, that would be a cool add.

[Stormy151]

Next/Previous keys to scroll through games by letter.

Previous game list, emulator keys definitely.

[stuzza]

Also, the choosing emulators thing....I wish when I design a layout there was an object to place that was an Emulator List, and whan this is added to the layout, you have a spot where you can change emulators right there..how you move from the game list to the emulator list , i dunno. maybe a key that "tabs" you back and forth?

I also think this would be a neat feature to have. Although I don't think it'd need to be interactive, just display the emulators.  Perhaps an "optional" Text box similar to the Games list box which had all the emulators listed in it and the current emulator would be highlighted.  This way you could keep a list on the page which showed all the systems users could play.  It would be good if this list could be displayed either vertically or horizontally on the page.  Don't know how hard this would be for you to do though?  Something to consider anyway..  

[btoddkelley]

I think the previous idea is good but I would hate to have to redo all the skins! keep backwards compatible if possible.


Todd

[JackTucky]

The ability to mix emulators! i.e. DAPHNE games in the same gamelist as MAME!
PLEASE!

Yes, add my vote for this one too.

Thanks, Art

[screaming]

Also, the choosing emulators thing....I wish when I design a layout there was an object to place that was an Emulator List, and whan this is added to the layout, you have a spot where you can change emulators right there..how you move from the game list to the emulator list , i dunno. maybe a key that "tabs" you back and forth?

I also think this would be a neat feature to have. Although I don't think it'd need to be interactive, just display the emulators.  Perhaps an "optional" Text box similar to the Games list box which had all the emulators listed in it and the current emulator would be highlighted.  This way you could keep a list on the page which showed all the systems users could play.  It would be good if this list could be displayed either vertically or horizontally on the page.  Don't know how hard this would be for you to do though?  Something to consider anyway..  

  If you have something like this, you really don't even need to be able to 'tab' back and forth from one list to the other.  You use the emulator Back/Forward buttons!

  Having an 'object' available like this in the layout would be neat, but I'd venture to say that most people don't have more than 7 or 8 emulators max.  Even less if you could mix them!

/steve

[stuzza]

Here is a very rough mockup of the emulator list idea:



It wouldn't be everyone's taste, however it would help let people who have never used your cabinet know all the various systems they can choose to browse through.  It would need to be an optional object like the other object boxes, so you could turn it off if you didn't want it.

The list could also then maybe be setup on a blank page so only it is displayed, a sort of main menu similar to the Ultimate Arcade Menu system.

[MadEditor]

Here is a very rough mockup of the emulator list idea:



It wouldn't be everyone's taste, however it would help let people who have never used your cabinet know all the various systems they can choose to browse through.  It would need to be an optional object like the other object boxes, so you could turn it off if you didn't want it.

The list could also then maybe be setup on a blank page so only it is displayed, a sort of main menu similar to the Ultimate Arcade Menu system.

As you just did it (for the example), you can draw it yourself in your layouts files and then with the previous/next emu buttons it will be perfect...

Actually just what i did... but the previous button will be handy

[hulkster]

hey what about the midgets!!!  "they prefer to be called little people" for those of you who watch conan obrien.

[SpamMe]

You can fake the emulator list now. Here's my current mamewah skin, the "list" is on the right (just a part of the background image).

[papaschtroumpf]

probably not a "quick" one but mixing emulators would be nice, for example I'd like to have a "pinball room" that could mix PC based, MAME, vpinMAME and GameBoy pinballs all on one screen.

Support for Howard's controls display utility would be great and maybe not too hard

I'd also like to have a parental-control feature that disables entire lists or emulators if enabledbut lets kids change lists and emulators they have access to. That seems easy enough to do.

[Minwah]

My only dislike about Mamewah--having the refresh games list so dangerously easy to hit.  I don't know how many times I've deleted tons of mahjong and other crap from a favorites list just to accidentally hit the refresh games list and POOF!  All the work is gone.  

You need to make a warning screen to prevent idiots like myself from being the idiots that we are.  Or at the very least move the refresh option down to the very bottom so it's harder to be an idiot.

I can relate to that, I did the same myself the other day.  I'm an idiot too    Perhaps an 'Are you sure?' prompt would be a good idea...

[Minwah]

no seriously, the only thing i can recommend is putting in some kind of filter to enable people to put their games into categories.  i mean like, having a category for 2 player games, 4 player simeltaneous, etc.  

Whats with the midgets hulkster?  Should we be worried?!

Well you can filter by catver's categories.  I could to some extent add no. players using mame -listinfo, and in future controls.dat - will probably do that when I next alter the LST format, not next release tho...

[Minwah]

Also, the choosing emulators thing....I wish when I design a layout there was an object to place that was an Emulator List, and whan this is added to the layout, you have a spot where you can change emulators right there..how you move from the game list to the emulator list , i dunno. maybe a key that "tabs" you back and forth?

Since SpamMe has shown how this can be done without me actually do anything, I I'll skip this one  

I know everyone wants to be able to merge emulators/lists, but it is quite a biggie.  Well not so much a biggie on it's own, but I need to change the LST format to do it, and I have some other changes to make so it makes sense to do it all together...ie it will become a biggie...

papaschtroumpf: you could somewhat achieve this parental control by using the 'Select Custom Lists to Cycle' option and the menu lock: just select the 'kids' ones to cycle, disabling the others.  Then lock the menu when the kids are there (so they have to use the next list button), and when you're there you can unlock the menu and select the list you want there.  
You could do similar to emulators by limiting the 'No. Emulators to Display'.

[MrBond]

A highscore type search feature (like )p('s 3d-arcade or HC's dragon king) would be cool as well.  ie, hit a key, enter a few letters like you would your initials when you get a highscore, then hit the key again and it goes to the first game with these letters.

[Minwah]

Any preference on default previous/next emulator/list keys?

[Brad]

I'd love to be able to boot into my arcade cab and have Mamewah startup with a System menu screen. Say for example with the following:

1 - Mame Arcade
2 - Sega Genesis
3 - SNES
4 - Jukebox
5 - Exit (Shutdown)

This are slectable via arcade controls and when sleced will load your appropriate lists etc. The real good part about this is when you escape from a particular system it boots you back to said menu system!

This menu would also be skinnale just like every other Mamewah list. If anyone already has a way to do this I'd really appreciate it.

Brad

[TimO]

Maybe have the option to get rid of the good tools format? because I have been manually changing it for the past 3 months   and I'm not even 1/4th done! lol

Also for the option to have custom lists from Mame such as the "Light Gun" games so we don't have to have a completely seperate mame program running along with just those light gun game roms.

[btoddkelley]

Any preference on default previous/next emulator/list keys?

I have a 4 player panel so the 4 button works well to cycle forward. I think 3 would work well to cycle back.


Todd

[Minwah]

Maybe have the option to get rid of the good tools format? because I have been manually changing it for the past 3 months   and I'm not even 1/4th done! lol

Also for the option to have custom lists from Mame such as the "Light Gun" games so we don't have to have a completely seperate mame program running along with just those light gun game roms.

Sorting your romnames is your job    

You can have custom lists already, knowing you and your skins I'm sure you mean list-specific layouts.  I'll take a look at that, shouldn't be too difficult...

[Minwah]

I have a 4 player panel so the 4 button works well to cycle forward. I think 3 would work well to cycle back.

That's how I have it at the moment I think, just wondered how most people would want it.  I only have a 2 player panel but personally I only need the 'next' button as I use 3 emulators...

[TimO]

knowing you and your skins I'm sure you mean list-specific layouts.

yeah that ... thats what i ment ... what did i say? lol